Bengaluru: The Karnataka Assembly on Monday passed a Bill to raise the reservation quota for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates in jobs and educational institutions, taking the overall reservation in the state past the 50 percent ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court. The Bill, envisaging a hike in the reservation by 2 percent for SC and 4 percent for ST candidates, thus, bringing the overall reservation quota to 56 percent now, was unanimously passed after the Congress and the JD-S legislators extended their support. The support came after the ruling BJP agreed to ensure the implementation of the increased reservation by pushing the Central government for an amendment to include the Bill in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
Tabling the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Bill, 2022, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy recalled the BJP's poll promise to increase SC and ST reservation.
"After the Bill is passed, we will follow up with the Union government to get it implemented effectively without any legal hassles," he said.
As Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanded that the reservation should be applicable to the private sector also, the Law Minister responded by stating that he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister.
The Bill passed on Monday aims to replace an ordinance that the Karnataka cabinet had approved, effectively hiking the reservation for the SC community from 15 percent to 17 percent and the ST community from 3 percent to 7 percent.
The BJP government in Karnataka had decided to increase the quota based on a report prepared by a committee headed by retired High Court Justice league H.N. Nagmohan Das.
(With inputs from IANS)
